In his State of the Nation Address (SoNA), President Rodrigo Duterte reaffirmed his commitment to end corruption in government.

“Time and again, I have stressed that corruption must stop. Corruption is like a leech that it bleeds the government of funds programmed for its infrastructure and other social development projects. It saps the morale of dedicated and honest government workers,” the President stressed.

The President issued a stern warning, particularly to his friends and supporters, to stay away from corruption because he would not hesitate to sacrifice friendship for the sake of good governance. Earlier, he warned to fire officials if he gets even a whiff of their involvement in corrupt practices.

Reading between the lines, the President obviously knows some incumbent officials have crossed the line.

Among the likely target of his warning is Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III who became controversial lately with a spate of allegations of corruption.

Last Wednesday, a high-ranking official of a recruitment firm admitted she gave more than P100,000 worth of gifts to Bello, as well as the latest iPhone model in December 2016.

In addition, Amanda Lalic-Araneta who is the president of the MMML Recruitment Services, Inc., alleged Bello demanded P10 million to P15 million for his approval of her company’s license applications.

It was actually the third complaint against the Labor secretary. Last 17 July, the Secretary-General of the Kilusang Pagbabago National Movement for Change Monalie Dizon filed a graft complaint against Bello before the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.

Dizon accused Bello and former Labor undersecretary Dominador Say of extorting money from Azizza Salim, who allegedly gave P6.8 million in exchange for Say’s reversal of the cancellation order issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration against the Azzizah International Manpower Services.

Earlier, Bello was also accused of charging P720 for the identification card 1-DoLE card of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) which was supposed to be given free being a donation of the ACTS-OFW party-list group.

As expected, Bello denied these allegations and challenged his detractors to sue him in court. However, the filing of the charges against Bello ruined whatever chance he had of being appointed as the new Ombudsman to replace retiring Conchita Carpio-Morales.

But the fallout of the charges against Bello may not end with his elimination from the race to the Office of the Ombudsman.

While an earlier statement from Malacañang said Bello still enjoys the trust of President Duterte, the dire warnings in the recent SoNA paint a darker future for the Labor secretary.

“This is a lonely place I am hemmed in. Do not make it lonelier by forcing me to end our friendship because you gave me the reason to end it,” the President warned corrupt officials.

With allegations of wrongdoing mounting against Bello, the President may just have to endure more lonely days ahead.

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